that prayer (1) is superior to the study of ḥadīth—I have never asserted such a thing to you.

Sufyān ibn ʿAbd al-Malik, a companion of Ibn al-Mubārak, said: “Wakīʿ possessed a sharper memory than Ibn al-Mubārak.”

Aḥmad al-ʿIjlī said: “Wakīʿ was a Kufan, reliable, devout, upright, refined, one of the great preservers of ḥadīth, and he also issued legal verdicts.”

Abū ʿUbayd al-Ājurrī relates that Abū Dāwūd was asked, “Whose memory was stronger—Wakīʿ or ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī?” He replied, “Wakīʿ’s memory was stronger, whereas ʿAbd al-Raḥmān was more exact. The two met after the ʿIshāʾ prayer in the Sacred Mosque and kept cross-checking narrations until they heard the adhān for Fajr.”

ʿAbbās and Ibn Abī Khaythama heard Yaḥyā say: “Whoever prefers ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī to Wakīʿ, upon him is the curse of Allah, the angels, and all of mankind.”

I say: This is a deplorable statement—may Allah forgive Yaḥyā. My own view is that ʿAbd al-Raḥmān is the more knowledgeable, superior, and precise of the two; in any case, both men are peerless imams.

Abū Dāwūd said: “No one ever saw a single book with Wakīʿ, nor with Hushaym, Ḥammād ibn Zayd, or Maʿmar.”

Ibn al-Madīnī said: “The most reliable disciples of Sufyān al-Thawrī are Ibn Mahdī, al-Qaṭṭān, and Wakīʿ.”

Abū Ḥātim said: “I bear witness that Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal declared, ‘The firmly established authority, according to us…’”